A Game of Doubt
Maria and Terin faced each other. Positioned like that, they looked less like plaintiff and defendant than prosecutor and defense attorney. The scene even brought to mind a reverse trial. In which case, the dorm supervisor must be the bald judge.
“Weren’t you just thinking something rather rude?”
Startled, I shoved away the face of the bald supervisor who had somehow appeared right in front of me. My displeasure showed plainly as I stared at her.
“Can golems read thoughts too?”
“Ordinary golems cannot read human thoughts, but as a golem standing at the forefront of magical engineering and created by the great…”
“So you can’t, then?”
“Please listen to me until the end, you rude student.”
“Sorry, but I’m not naïve enough to show a golem any courtesy.”
At my sharp reply the supervisor fell silent. Maria had been watching our little war of nerves with faint interest. She raised her hand slightly and spoke.
“Shall we begin now?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
At the supervisor’s flat tone Maria’s body gave a small shiver. Still wearing that razor-edged expression, she turned to Terin. A trace of tension had seeped into her face.
I reached over and took Evangeline’s hand. She had been trembling so badly it hurt to watch. My warmth must have reached her; the shaking gradually eased. In the quiet that followed, the first to speak was Terin.
“First point: movement route. You went through the rooms in order, starting with Room A. Together with Aina.”
Maria paused to wet her throat, like a duelist moistening her mouth before the real strike. Watching her, I sank into thought.
In truth, before the device activated, Terin’s alibi was simple and airtight. Leah and I could both vouch for her. Of course, she might have done something while we weren’t looking, but the window had been far too short. A criminal who had planned a murder this meticulously would never have risked such a sloppy move.
More than that, I was already doubting something else entirely. None of us had any reason to commit murder last night. Therefore we had no reason to check the device, either. One might argue that the sudden appearance of the third floor had sparked curiosity and someone had gone up, entered Room A, and pressed the button. But how likely was that coincidence? Compared to such a flimsy possibility, the supervisor’s earlier mention of the 8th Girl felt far more plausible.
The 8th Girl. The uninvited girl who had entered the Rose Pavilion anyway.
I didn’t know how much she understood, but she must have known that her presence would trigger the “special event” written in the Rose Pavilion Rules. So what if she had inspected the device on the third floor beforehand, armed herself there, and killed Ariel the moment the device activated?
Of course that theory had several holes.
“After going all the way to Room F, why did you suddenly return to Room D?”
While I was still turning the idea over, Maria continued after clearing her throat.
“…That’s because…”
“Because?”
At Maria’s cutting tone Terin glanced quickly at Leah and me. Why is she looking at us like that? Before I could finish the thought, Terin finished her sentence.
“The secret space there was bothering me.”
“Secret space?”
“Yeah… I wondered whether the secret space had been affected by the device too.”
A secret passage—she meant the small room that held the safe. It wasn’t a bad deduction. After all, my own room was connected to that hidden corridor. When I pointed this out, Maria’s eyes widened.
“There was a secret space in that room?”
“Yes. It activated when you touched the device.”
Maria frowned at Leah’s answer.
“Then we’ll set that aside. What were you doing when the device activated?”
“I already told you. I was looking for Aina.”
“But that can’t be proven. Let me be frank. This is what I believe.”
Aina claimed Ariel was killed while Rooms C and D were connected, but I disagree.
The culprit was waiting in front of Room C when the device first activated.
Then, the moment the device activated again and chaos erupted, the culprit slipped into Room C and killed Ariel.
“In fact, Ophelia only discovered Ariel some time after the device had activated, correct?”
“…Yes, that’s true.”
I had already checked up to Room G by then. The explanation was convincing enough that Leah stroked her chin.
“Hmm…”
“Wait. If that’s the case, where did Terin hide the blood-stained clothes?”
“That is exactly why I’m naming Terin as the culprit.”
It was a point I had overlooked until now. Blood-stained clothes. If Ariel had vomited that much blood, the murderer should have been spattered as well. True, a stab from behind with a blade wouldn’t produce a fountain of blood, but the killer would still have needed to change.
“Terin said she entered Room D. Room D is right next to Room C, so it would have been easy to sense any movement.”
“And she changed in that interval?”
“Yes. Besides, although Room D faces Room E, it’s at the very end of the corridor. There would have been no danger of mixing up sounds from other rooms.”
“Hold on. Then Terin’s blood-stained clothes should still be in Room D…”
“Should be?”
“I didn’t see anything like that.”
Leah had searched every room thoroughly before we gathered here; her testimony made Maria frown again. At last Terin, who had stayed silent, spoke.
“To be honest, being suspected as the murderer doesn’t feel pleasant at all.”
“…I imagine not. I don’t enjoy accusing you, either.”
“But if you’re going to suspect someone, there should at least be proper evidence.”
“Evidence…”
With so little time left, we had no choice but to rely on testimony rather than hard proof. It really was like a mafia game—deception layered on deception until someone spotted the lie.
“…You’re right. I suppose my theory was wrong.”
Maria sighed and shook her head. The two of them returned to the jury seats. Time had slipped away again; another thirty minutes were gone. We had an hour and a half left. Short if it passed quickly, unbearably long if it dragged.
“Then who is it really?”
“Who knows…”
Even now time was flowing onward. If not Terin, the remaining suspects were Clarisse, Ariel—and Ophelia. Ariel was dead. Ophelia had fallen into shocked silence after witnessing her friend’s murder. And Clarisse… I could never tell what she was thinking.
“Your thinking is too rigid.”
“…Huh?”
The whisper brushed my ear. When I turned, Clarisse was once again conversing with her “Lord Dalton.”
“I see, Lord Dalton.”
Was she talking to the teddy bear again? I let out a long breath and began reconstructing the crime from the beginning.
Premise: The culprit took a weapon from Room B and hid it.
First: The device activated. Rooms C and D connected.
Second: Taking advantage of the connection, the culprit stabbed Ariel from behind, killing her instantly.
Third: Using the moment of death as cover, the culprit quickly disposed of the bloody clothes and vanished again when the device moved once more.
Fourth: If the culprit simply slipped back among us, a perfect locked-room murder would be complete.
The weapon had come from Room B. Among the blades there was one identical to the sword that had pierced Ariel’s back.
Second: activation of the device.
“…Did the culprit know the device would activate at that exact moment?”
“Hm?”
“Wasn’t Clarisse the one who activated it?”
“…No.”
“Then are there activation buttons in the other rooms too?”
That couldn’t be right. I was half-certain of it. For the theory to hold, the culprit must have known Clarisse was in Room A.
“Clarisse. While you were in Room A, who did you make eye contact with?”
“Huh?”
“There must have been someone.”
“…Pink hair, purple hair, black hair.”
She pointed at each of us in turn. I bit my lip. It wasn’t that I had no suspects. But to voice any accusation I needed evidence, just as Terin had said.
I closed my mouth and quietly observed the girls. None of them seemed to have the slightest idea who the culprit might be; they simply stared at one another with blank eyes.
“Aina.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“You defended me while pretending not to, didn’t you?”
Hmm. Not exactly. I had simply disliked watching an innocent person being cornered as a murderer. When I told her so, Terin grinned.
“Hehe, is that right?”
“…If you don’t believe me, forget it.”
“No, I believe you. Of course I do. It’s something you said, Aina. I trust it completely.”
Is she teasing me? I gave her a look. Terin laughed brightly and moved toward Leah, apparently intending to greet her as well.
Time passed. Another thirty minutes vanished in the blink of an eye. Just as everyone’s nerves were stretching to the breaking point, the supervisor spoke.
“One hour remains.”